Iran condemns Israeli settlers violent attack on Palestinians in occupied West Bank

Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Nasser Kan’ani, in a statement on Tuesday, condemned the brutal assaults by extremist Jewish settlers on defenseless Palestinians in Huwara town as well as the surrounding areas in the occupied West Bank city of Nablus and decried arson attacks on residential buildings and private properties.

Kan’ani stated that the settlers’ criminal acts are in line with the cold-blooded killings of Palestinians at the hands of the Israeli occupation army in Nablus and Jenin in recent weeks and represent a clear example of the Tel Aviv regime’s structural and state-sponsored terrorism.

He called on the international community to exhibit a decisive, effective and deterrent response to the terror machine of the Israeli apartheid regime.

“The extremism and criminal behaviors of the bogus Israeli regime, besides its failure to honor commitments and agreements, have once again rightly demonstrated that the legitimate struggle against Zionist occupiers and their aggression is the sole option before the Palestinian nation and resistance groups,” Kan’ani said.

Also on Tuesday, the European Union condemned the latest wave of violence in the West Bank after Israeli settlers carried out at least 300 attacks, including shootings and arson, in a rampage through Palestinian villages in the Nablus area.

“The EU condemns the outbreak of settlers violence, which resulted in the killing of one Palestinian, injuring of several hundreds of Palestinians, and burning of houses and shops, causing the unacceptable destruction of Palestinian property,” the European External Action Service (EEAS) said in a statement.

It also called on Israel and the Palestinian Authority to reduce tensions and ensure the protection of civilians.

European Commission Vice-President and EU foreign affairs chief Josep Borrell contacted Israeli and Palestinian Authority officials on Sunday night “to convey the message that violence and terror must stop, that all civilians must be protected and that immediate measures of de-escalation are necessary.”

“All parties need to take immediate steps to end this deadly cycle of violence, prevent further loss of life, ensure accountability and bring the perpetrators to justice.”

The Israeli military sent hundreds more troops to the occupied West Bank on Monday, a day after a Palestinian man shot and killed Israeli brothers Hillel and Yagel Yaniv from the illegal settlement of Har Bracha in a shooting ambush in the Palestinian town of Hawara in the northern West Bank. The gunman fled the scene.

Following the shooting, groups of settlers rampaged through Palestinian villages in the Nablus area of the occupied West Bank.

Palestinian officials say Israeli settlers have carried out at least 300 attacks, including shootings and arson, in the rampage.

A 37-year-old Palestinian man, identified as Samih al-Aqtash, was shot in the stomach on Sunday night by settlers protected by the Israeli army in the village of Zaatara south of Nablus. He died of his injuries.

At least 390 Palestinians were injured in the settler rampage across the villages of Huwara, Zaatara, Burin and Asira al-Qibliya, the Palestinian Red Crescent Society said.

It added that the majority were wounded from tear gas fired by the Israeli army as well as smoke inhalation from widespread fires set by extremist settlers.

Israeli settlers and troops have escalated attacks on Palestinians since late December 2022, when Benjamin Netanyahu staged a comeback as the regime’s prime minister at the head of a cabinet of far-right and extremist parties.